I've had my Obi 200 for a few years and it's been great. I rarely make or receive landline calls, but it's nice to have the ability.
Unfortunately I am on Comcast Xfinity and live in an area with a 300gb data limit. This morning I got a notification that I was within 20gb of my cap limit. This has happened to me a few times over the past year and I have never understood why my data usage might get that high. Luckily, I run DD-WRT firmware on my router so I'm able to take a look at my bandwidth usage so when I reviewed the data I found that I had a huge spike yesterday. I double-checked my downloads on my computer for yesterday and they were minimal (~25mb). I do watch Netflix, but my viewing yesterday was absolutely on par with everyday usage. The ONLY thing different about yesterday was that I had to spend over an hour on the phone. To give you an idea about the difference in data usage, I average ~5gb a day; yesterday I hit 28gb. Unfortunately my router firmware doesn't give me a bandwidth breakdown by device.
Could the Obi 200 be eating up that much bandwidth? I don't have any other devices that have been auto-updating that amount of data, so it's either my computer, my Obi, or my Roku. As I mentioned, I didn't watch any extra streaming video, nor did I download any large files onto my computer (just a few .pdf files); the ONLY thing I can think of is the lengthy phone call. Opinions?
A one-hour VoIP call using the G.711 codec can take up to 85 MB of data. On the other hand, the same call may consume just 35 MB if the G.729 codec is used.
If no calls are being placed or received, there should be no real bandwidth that is used--and if any to ping and register, minimal at best--like 72 to 200 bytes every hour or so.
You are looking to blame someone for your data consumption--just don't look towards the OBi--especially if you're not even using it that much.
I'm not trying to "blame" it, I'm only attempting to figure out what caused the spike yesterday. Over the years I've been using my Obi 200, I've never had to do anything with it other than the original configuration and updating the firmware so I don't even know how to choose which codec it is using.
It didn't make any sense to me either that VoIP would eat that much bandwidth, but honestly, that is the only thing that was different about my internet use yesterday--the entire rest of the month shows a fairly even distribution of data usage. I've even checked to see if Windows did any auto-updates recently, but have had none since 8 days ago.
After I roll into the new month and I'm no longer about to hit a data cap, I guess I can do an experiment with the Obi to monitor in real-time to determine if it might be the culprit.
I'd be suspicious of Netflix. Netflix can adjust the bitrate and CODECs being used on the fly, and depending on the quality of the video being streamed, data consumption could vary dramatically.
Certainly, as the Lt. pointed out, VoIP is using a tiny fraction of the total data consumption on your account.
I'm going to assume that you have properly secured your network, including strong passwords for your router's administrative sign-on, and its WiFi passphrase. If not, you have your homework assignment. Passphrases should be long, complex, and contain no words or names in any language.
Here's a handy way to generate a complex password: https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm (https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm)
My guess? Windows. Are you running Windows?
Lately Microsoft changed their Win 10 patch (to install) from optional to recommended. Most people automatically download recommended patches.
Anytime I see odd behavior on a Wednesday, I suspect PATCH TUESDAY.
Unlikely to be Windows patches or Win10. Even the full Win10 OS is a long way short of 28 Gbyte.
This may not be related -but- on Windows 10 your PC may:
"Delivery Optimization also sends updates and apps from your PC to other PCs on your local network or PCs on the Internet."
This behavior can be "disabled" in Windows 10 >
"Settings" > "Windows Update" > "Advanced Options" > "Choose how updates are delivered" > "Updates from more than one place" > "OFF"
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/windows-update-delivery-optimization-faq
I'm having the same issue with OBI 200 / Comcast in Chicago. It consumed the lion's share of 900 gb in 8 days. Please see my related post for the details.
In my case, it definitely is something related to the OBI 200. I can see the graph of data on my router web page and when I unplug the OBI, it stops. When I plug it in again, it starts again.
I don't have any idea what's causing it. If anybody does, or has an idea for a fix, please post it.
Dennis